


Gurrlfriend

by Erikthonius



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24098698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erikthonius/pseuds/Erikthonius
Summary: Nico's friendship with Mitchell
Relationships: Mitchell/Connor Stoll, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 10
Kudos: 155





	Gurrlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> In my mind, Nico and Mitchell are best friends, which a lot of other people just can't understand, but it makes perfect sense to them.

Nico thought of it as his rock. It wasn’t really, but he liked to sit on it and look out onto the canoe lake, and no-one else ever really came there. It was secluded and shaded, on the far side of the lake from the dock. It was private but in the open, and it wasn’t that easy to get to. He didn’t have to shadow travel to get to it (although the overhanging trees made it easy to come and go that way when he needed to) which would please his nagging boyfriend.

That was part of it. He had a boyfriend. That was so much to take in that sometimes he needed to be by himself to process it. He really liked (was that word strong enough?) being with Will, but it overwhelmed him sometimes. It was that he wasn’t alone anymore; it was that Will was his total opposite; part of it was that Will was another boy. He was slowly getting used to it, just the fact itself, as well as nobody else seeming to mind. 

Also there were other things. He liked the quiet after the loud chaos that was the Apollo cabin, he liked, no, he needed the open space. After that time in the bronze jar, he couldn’t bear to be closed in. He also liked just looking out onto the water. He wondered if that was from his childhood in Venice. He was slowly regaining memories of that time, more general sense memories than clear pictures, and he was almost certain that he and Bianca (his heart still clutched when he thought of her) had sat behind their house, looking out onto the lagoon.

Today was one of those days where he felt the need for a little alone time. He and Will had been to a concert by Will’s mother a few nights before, and there was a lot for Nico to process. He’d met Naomi Solace for the first time. The woman was just as warm as her son, no surprise there. He’d met a lot of other people as well, and to top it off, Naomi had sung a song that she’d written about Will’s feelings for Nico. He was really touched by that, to say the least, but today he just needed some time to take it all in. Will, thank the gods, understood, and let him have his alone time, so he headed into the woods so that he could sit on ‘his’ rock and stare into the lake, letting his mind mull over everything.

The trouble was, when he got there, he saw someone sitting right where he’d been planning on sitting. No-one had ever been there before. Even Will didn’t know about this spot. It was Nico’s private place. From a distance, he didn’t recognize the auburn hair, but as he got closer, he could tell from the way the hair, even though wind-blown, was styled and the clothes were perfect in spite of the long walk to get here, that it must be one of the Aphrodite boys. 

“Mitchell,” he thought. He didn’t really know the boy well. He’d participated in a prank that Cecil had organized, resulting in Mitchell and Connor humiliating each other in the dining pavilion. That had ended up the two of them becoming boyfriends. Nico still had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that he and Will weren’t the only gay boys at the camp.

His distraction (and minor irritation) caused him to step on a stick, which snapped. (Normally, he was capable of moving so silently that it disturbed some of the other campers.) Mitchell turned and waved to him.

“Hey, Nico. What brings you out here?” he called out.

“I like to come out here to be by myself.” Nico hoped he didn’t sound petulant.

“I know what you mean,” Mitchell replied with a smile. “I found this spot about a year ago. I love my brothers and sisters, but sometimes, the Aphrodite craziness gets to be too much. Drew and Lacy are going at each other, and Piper is getting anxious about leaving for school soon. The younger kids aren’t much help. Philip and Sean just retreated into the bathroom, and they took most of the makeup with them. Brace yourself for some serious eyeliner fails at dinner tonight.”

There was something so friendly in Mitchell’s tone as he joked at his siblings expense, but at the same time, Nico could feel the weariness in the other boy’s voice. Maybe he needed this quiet place as much as Nico did. He started to leave, saying, “Well, I won’t disturb you,” but Mitchell gestured for him to stay.

“There’s enough quiet here for two, you don’t have to go.” Nico silently accepted the invitation, sitting down a short distance away. The two boys sat, not saying a word, each wrapped in his own thoughts. Nico found that he didn’t mind the other boy’s presence; there was actually something soothing about his quiet calm. 

In fact, it was so calming that he forgot that Mitchell was there after a while, and he got up, walking to the water’s edge. He picked up a flat stone and tossed it out into the lake, watching as it skipped, one, two, three times. He found that sometimes that helped him order his thoughts.

“Nice,” Mitchell said appreciatively. “Mind if I join you?”

Nico just nodded. Mitchell carefully selected a stone. He whispered something toward the water and lobbed it out. Nico’s eyebrows raised as the stone skipped nine times before it sank.

“Wow,” was all he said.

Mitchell grinned at him. “A few of the nymphs taught me how to do that. They also asked me to whisper a prayer before I do it so that they know to get out of the way.”

“Good idea. The last thing I need is a pissed off water nymph.”

“Well, I should head back. Connor was teaching his sister Alice some advanced fart bomb recipes, and the smell should be dissipated by now.” Mitchell waved as he walked off.

Nico smiled to himself. He was calmer now, and a bit surprised at himself; he had enjoyed the other boy’s quiet company more than he thought he would.

Will was also quite surprised at dinner when, as Nico sat down at his table, he’d shot Mitchell a grin when the other boy came into the dining pavilion, accompanied by his two younger brothers who were sporting rather sloppy panda eyes makeup.

=====

The next time Nico went out to his rock, he wasn’t really looking for solitude. Quite the opposite. He’d gone to the infirmary, hoping to hang out with Will, but things were just too crazy there. The new Hephaestus kid, Harley, had done something to the lava wall, and now the place was teeming with injured demigods, most of whom had burns, but quite a few of them also had other injuries, not the least of which involved having an unidentified pink substance stuck to them. The stuff wasn’t toxic per se, but on some of them, most notably the Ares campers, got rashes where it touched them, and, for all their ferocity, could be such big babies sometimes.

At any rate, Will was too busy to hang out, and Nico certainly wasn’t going to flirt with him in front of all these people. So, instead, he headed out to ‘his’ rock, intending to have a good sulk. Even though he’d not minded the last time, seeing Mitchell sitting there made him scowl.

The son of Aphrodite, however, was not put off in the least, and waved cheerfully to him, calling out in a lilting voice, “Hey there, gurrlfriend! What’s got your knickers in a twist?”

“Did you just call me ‘girlfriend’?” Nico asked with just a touch of outrage.

“Not girlfriend,” Mitchell corrected him. “That would be sexist, diminishing of your masculinity, and possibly transphobic. I said ‘gurrlfriend, which is something altogether different.”

Nico was confused. He thought he could hear a faint difference in the way Mitchell said the two words. “Gurrlfriend?” he tried, the vowel lower in his throat, and the r’s a little longer, but unlike Mitchell, he rolled them a little in the Italian fashion.

“That’s more like it. We gay boys have to stick together.” Mitchell smiled at him, and the smile was so warm and guileless that Nico warmed to it a little, even as he flinched ever so slightly at being called gay. He’d come here not so much for privacy, after all, but to sulk about not being able to spend time with his boyfriend. Maybe he wouldn’t mind a little company.

“Don’t tell me,” Mitchell continued. “Boyfriend too busy in the infirmary?”

“How did you know?”

“I kind of have the same problem. I was hoping for a little time with Connor, but this new kid, Harley, is shaking things up. While your man is patching things up, mine is probably plotting with his sibs to make things worse, I’m afraid. It’s my own fault for falling for a Hermes boy.”

Nico thought about that. He realized that this was the problem with falling for the head of the infirmary; Will’s time wasn’t exactly his own. At the same time, he was trying to open up to people more, spend less time alone. Still, he wasn’t comfortable with a lot of the other campers. He knew that part of that was still not feeling at ease about being in a relationship with another boy. Well, Mitchell could hardly hold that against him. 

Steeling his nerve, Nico said, “You make it look so easy.”

Mitchell smiled at him. “Make what easy?”

“Being, you know, being gay. You’re so comfortable with it. I guess...I don’t know. It’s always been hard for me. Maybe your family was more accepting.” Nico was thinking about Will’s mom and her friends, all of whom had seemed so okay about it.

Mitchell laughed, but there was a ruefulness to it. “Ooh, gurrlfriend, if you only knew.”

Nico stared at him. He realized that he knew almost nothing about this boy. 

Mitchell took the silence as an invitation to continue. “The thing is, I never really had a family. My mom, I mean my mortal mom kind of freaked out when Aphrodite left me on her doorstep.”

Nico nodded at hearing that Mitchell had a mortal mother. He was getting used to the idea that some gods weren’t particularly choosy about the gender of the mortal they bore a child with. He’d recently met Kayla’s mortal dad.

“At any rate,” Mitchell continued, “I never met my mortal mom, since she took off pretty soon after this little bundle of joy,” he gestured at himself, “was left at her feet. That meant I was put into foster care when I was too young to remember.”

Nico nodded, not really knowing what else to say, but wanting to indicate that he was listening, so Mitchell continued.

“So, listen, gurrlfriend, I can’t even imagine what it was like growing up gay in Italy I don’t know how many years ago it was, but I can tell you this, being a little gay boy in the Oklahoma foster system was no walk in the strawberry fields.” His expression grew more serious as he went on.

“Yeah, I was never good at hiding it, so why bother? By the time I was even old enough to realize that acting the way I did was ‘wrong’ (he made air quotes, and the look of disgust at that word made his feelings even more obvious), word got out. The case-workers warned the foster parents. And of course, word got around to the other kids stuck in the system. Gossip travels fast there. It’s the only way we survive sometimes, but do I need to tell you how kids treat somebody who’s different?”

Nico shook his head sadly at that. He remembered what it was like being the new kid who still had a trace of an accent when he got to Westover Academy. “So Mitchell, how did you survive?”

“I made myself a promise. Long before I knew I was a demigod, I knew I was a little queer kid. I knew a few others in the system, and I saw what happened to them. The ones who let themselves be bullied for it had it the worst, so I promised myself that I’d never let anybody give me shit for being a gay boy. I couldn’t fight physically…” Mitchell laughed at himself. “Honey, have you seen me in the arena? But I made sure I had a comeback to anybody who tried anything with me, and I never let them get me down. It wasn’t enough to be gay, I had to be…” he drew in a breath and struck a pose…”FABULOUS!!!”

Nico took this all in. He felt a new appreciation for this boy. He’d faced down his share of gods and monsters, but he wondered if he’d ever be brave enough to do something like this.

Mitchell must have picked up on some of what Nico was feeling. He smiled easily, and said, “Listen, it’s getting on toward dinner time. Come by my cabin after, and I can give you some tips. You rock the goth look, but I think you need some pointers on how to be a fierce gay emo boi.” 

Nico only understood about a third of that, but he decided to take Mitchell up on the offer anyway.

=====

Nico was not by nature a happy person. He was not all sunshine and rainbows (well, maybe, he was finally admitting, some rainbows), but he was getting better. A lot of that was the result of his coming to terms with who and what he was. Will helped with that a lot, but Mitchell was also a big help in that department. That boy always had a positive attitude, especially about his sexuality, and seeing how much strength Mitchell drew from his identity as an out gay demigod really made Nico feel more confident.

They would meet out on the far side of the canoe lake, on the rock that nobody else seemed to know about. They’d sit and chat idly. Mitchell knew all the gossip about the current campers. Nico discovered that the other boy loved the stories that Nico picked up from some of his underworld contacts, especially those with Hollywood connections. It turned out that both Douglas Fairbanks (Sr, of course) and Rudolph Valentino were demigods, the former being a son of Apollo, and the latter having Erato for his mother, and both of them had a lot of stories about their movie star friends, which they’d share with Nico when he was down there doing errands for his father.

Nico had just come back from one such, and he had one such story that he knew Mitchell would love to hear, involving a drinking contest between Mary Pickford and Clara Bow. He knew that Connor was busy leading his cabin in sword fighting practice (he could only imagine how many of them would end up in the infirmary afterward as a result of their tomfoolery), and the Aphrodite cabin was at the Pegasus stables, which Mitchell was excused from, due to allergies, so he’d probably be by the lake and glad of the entertainment.

Mitchell was indeed by the lake, but he wasn’t sitting in his usual spot on the rock. Instead, he was leaning against a tree, his shoulders slumped. Even from afar, Nico could tell that something wasn’t right. He looked like he’d been crying. Mitchell never cried, he was too fierce for that. Nico hurried up to him, not wanting to intrude, but if one of the other campers had done something to upset his friend, they’d find out what it was like to be smacked with the flat of a Stygian iron sword.

As he got closer, he could tell that this wasn’t something new. These tears were from an old loss. Nico knew that feeling all too well, and although he was normally the last person anyone would think of as offering comfort, this was familiar territory.

“Mitchell, are you alright?”

The other boy sniffled. His eyes were red and swollen. Nico had never seen him looking less than perfect. Mitchell pulled back, not wanting to be seen like this, but Nico approached him. This was not right. Mitchell was buoyant, Mitchell was fierce. As he looked at his friend, Nico knew what this was about.

“Who was it?” Nico asked, his voice surprisingly comforting.

“Oh, Nico, I didn’t want you to see me like this. It’s just...it’s just...did you ever know my sister Silena?”

Nico thought for a while. He dimly recalled meeting Silena when he first came to Camp Half Blood. She was the head of the Aphrodite cabin. Aphrodite wasn’t that interesting. She didn’t have very many attack points; mostly she was useful in combinations. If you played her in combination with Ares, you could take all your opponent’s Hephaestus cards out. He did a brief mental eye roll at the memory of his younger self’s priorities.

Then he remembered. During his time at camp after the Battle of Manhattan, he remembered some stories going around. Silena was a hero, Silena was a traitor. Nico could relate to that. He knew that there was gossip going through the camp about him as well.

“I remember her a little from the Battle of Manhattan,” Nico said, his tone encouraging Mitchell to go on.

“So, when I first came to camp, she was the head of our cabin, and she was so nice to me. She was so sweet to everybody. She always saw the best in people. She used to say, ‘Aphrodite is all about love and beauty, and there’s love and beauty in all of us. That’s what makes our mom so powerful.’ She was always trying to fix people up together. You know, she encouraged Clarisse to go out with Chris. And she said she was looking for the perfect guy for me. We all loved her. Even Drew.”

Nico sighed. He and Drew did not get along. He’d overheard her say some pretty spiteful things about him, especially after he and Will started dating, but he didn’t want to say anything in front of Mitchell, especially now.

“You know,” Mitchell went on. “Actually Drew was her second in command. She worshipped Silena. And then it happened.” He stopped and sniffled. “When we found out, none of us could believe it.”

Nico knew what was coming. He’d heard the stories. There had been a traitor in the camp. Someone had been giving secrets to Luke.

“When Drew was named the new head counselor, the first thing she did was to insist that Silena’s name was never to be spoken again. She said she’d brought shame to the cabin.”

“What a bitch.” Nico blushed at what he’d just said. He never swore. (Well, never in English. If his mother heard the Italian that came out of his mouth sometimes…)

“You know, I think there’s more to it than that,” Mitchell said very quietly. “I think she just loved Silena too much. It hurt her. Of course, never tell her I said that.” Some of his verve had come back. “Well, Nico, thanks. I’m sorry to dump all this on you. It’s just, today was Silena’s birthday, and I was feeling kind of down.”

Nico understood. He’d had a sister, too. Every year, in December, around the time of Bianca’s death, he just felt so down. But now, he wanted to do something.

“Mitchell, hang on a second. Will is gonna kill me, but wait right here.” His boyfriend always fretted when he used his ‘Underworld powers,’ but this was important. He withdrew into himself, sending his mind into the Stygian depths.

When he came back into himself, he gave Mitchell a little smile. “I checked, and Silena is in Elysium. She’s there with some big burly guy, one of Percy’s friends I think.”

Mitchell smiled back, dabbing at his eyes a little. “Yeah, that would be Beckendorf. Thanks Nico.”

“Any time, gurrlfriend.”

=====

Sometimes having a boyfriend was hard, not because it was a gay relationship, but just because it was a relationship. Nico was finally getting used to accommodating the needs of another person in his life, but sometimes the welter of feelings Will brought out in him was too much. Lately there was a new feeling, one that Nico didn’t like at all.

If you needed help with sword-fighting, you went to Percy. If you needed help with strategy, you went to Annabeth. If you needed help with dreams, you went to Clovis. But for this…

“It bothers me. Then, the fact that it bothers me bothers me even more. Does that even make any sense.” Nico threw his hands up into the air to make his point.

“Oh, gurrlfriend,” Mitchell shook his head. “I get it. You’re worried. I really don’t think you have anything to worry about. Will’s crazy about you. Trust me. I’m a son of Aphrodite. I know this like you know the difference between a rib and a femur.”

“I know, but this new camper, Paolo. He’s got this accent, he’s got those looks, he’s got those muscular arms. Everything was fine until the last three legged death race, the one that landed him in the infirmary. Now Will keeps looking over at him. I know he’s checking Paolo out. He keeps looking at Paolo’s arms.” 

Nico looked down at himself. Then he raised up his own arms. “Look at me! I’m so scrawny. How can I compete?”

Mitchell looked at his friend’s arms. They were corded with wiry muscles and covered with scars. Frankly, he thought Nico was incredibly hot, but he knew better than to say anything. He looked at the scars for a while and then said, “Those arms of Paolo’s that you’re going on about. Don’t I remember something about an accident? Something about that three legged death race you mentioned?

Nico knew that Mitchell had a point that he was getting to, and he suspected he knew what it was, but Mitchell was his friend, so he played along. “Yeah, one of Harley’s traps went haywire and cut both his arms off. Then Will sewed them back on. It’s not the first time he’s done that. He’s reattached a lot of limbs.” There was annoyance in his voice, but there was a touch of pride as well, something that didn’t escape Mitchell’s notice.

“He says he’s just assessing the surgeries and the healing, but I can’t help worrying that there’s more going on.”

Mitchell thought for a moment and then said, “Gurrlfriend, you know that Connor and I went into the city a while back.” Nico had no idea why Mitchell brought this up right now, but he let his friend continue. “We were in Times Square. We were sort of hanging out, when I noticed him looking at the people walking past us. I was sure he was checking out their asses.” He paused for dramatic effect, and Nico, picking up the cue, gave him a suitably appalled look.

Mitchell nodded appreciatively at being given the appropriate response and then continued. “Yeah, that boyfriend of mine was looking at backsides and muttering something to himself. I was going to tell him something about he’d better be saying none of those asses were as fine as mine, but I decided to pay attention to what he was saying, you know, in case I needed a better come-back than just that. And do you know what I heard him saying in that oh-so-quiet voice of his?”

Nico gave him another encouraging look. Sometimes, you just had to play the part of appreciative audience.

“He was reciting the contents of people’s wallets. That sneaky son of Hermes wasn’t checking out asses, he was scoping out marks. I started doing it with him. (He’s taught me a few of his tricks.)” The son of Aphrodite laughed at that. It was a pleasant, inviting laugh, and it made Nico smile just a little.

“Now, when we go out together, part of what we do together is check out asses. Sometimes he’ll tell me who’d be an easy mark, sometimes I tell him what fashion faux pas was made in choosing that underwear with those pants, and you know, gurrlfriend, sometimes we’ll just check out asses together. PS, he’s never found one he likes better than this one.” To emphasize his point, Mitchell gave his butt a little smack and winked saucily at his friend.

Nico thought about this. He’d spent enough time in the infirmary so that he had some appreciation for the finer points of healing, especially when done by a particularly fine looking son of Apollo, but his insecurities still nagged at him. Mitchell picked up on his friend’s discomfort.

“You know, Nico,” the use of his name rather than the endearment told Nico that his friend was being serious, “there’s something you can’t see. Yeah, I’ve seen your boyfriend looking at Paolo’s arms in the dining pavilion. He does it, but there’s a look on his face. It’s calm, it’s cool. He’s all Dr. Aloof. But I’ve also seen him when he comes to sword practice.”

Nico was surprised. He’d never seen Will at sword practice. The son of Apollo was a confirmed pacifist, largely due to his empathic powers. (Also, he kind of sucked at swords.)

“You don’t know he’s there; he sticks to the back of the crowd.” Mitchell started to smirk. “He doesn’t want you to see him. I don’t blame him. When he sees you out on the field, especially when you strip down to that tank top, well, let’s just say Dr. Aloof is not in the house. In fact, last Tuesday, Drew suggested he bring a towel to wipe up the drool.”

Nico snorted. Gods! That Drew was the worst, but truth to tell, he kind of liked hearing it. Mitchell grinned at the snort and rose to his feet. “Gurrlfriend, gotta go. It’s time for our cabin to go to arts and crafts, and Lacy could use my help wrangling some of our siblings.”

Nico also got up. “I think I’m going to head to the arena to train. If you happen to see our head healer, you might mention that to him.”

Mitchell shot him a wink and gave him a thumbs up. As he headed back to his cabin to pick up his sword (and change into a tighter shirt), he thought about how much better he felt now than he had earlier.

That was the thing. Will was his boyfriend. (Even though he still cringed a little at the term.) Percy was, after some time getting over old feelings, a trusted comrade, one who would always have his back, the same with Annabeth. Hazel was his sister, and the bond with Reyna and Coach Hedge could never be broken. But after all was said and done, he knew that he would always, always feel better, in a very special way whenever he talked to Mitchell.


End file.
